Samsung is planning a big upgrade for Now Brief, the glanceable feed inside One UI, and it homes in on an age-old gripe. In the next release, One UI 8.5, YouTube clip recommendations surfaced through Now Brief will finally be personalized — no longer a mix of generic clip tips and content that appeals to your interests.
Users have griped in community forums that Now Brief’s YouTube tiles felt like a grab bag. The pre-release build strings suggest an obvious remedy: Samsung will just ask you to share interest info with partner services in order for Now Brief to customize the videos it displays, such as offers linked to your favorite teams or an upcoming trip.
- What Is Changing in Now Brief with One UI 8.5 Update
- Why This Matters for YouTube on Samsung Galaxy Devices
- Spotify recommendations in Now Brief get smarter too
- Privacy controls and consent options for personalized feeds
- Small but telling additions across sharing and contacts
- When you can try the One UI 8.5 Now Brief improvements
What Is Changing in Now Brief with One UI 8.5 Update
Text found in early One UI 8.5 builds points to the existence of a new consent flow tentatively named “Get richer insights” that offers you the chance to share personal data with partners so that you can get personalized YouTube materials within Now Brief. The examples are concrete: videos from sports teams you follow, clips that pertain to locations on your calendar, and recommendations the system thinks you will like based on your stated interests.
This is where the opt-in calculus hits the sweet spot: you allow relevance and retain control at once. If you and your pal say no, Now Brief is expected to provide generalized, non-targeted picks. The feed relies on your expressed likes and contextual cues to surface more relevant clips without requiring you to open YouTube in the first place — is all.
Why This Matters for YouTube on Samsung Galaxy Devices
YouTube is already the default entertainment layer for much of the world, with upwards of 2.5 billion logged-in monthly users according to Statista. You poke people to watch more stuff they actually care about by surfacing truly relevant content on the lock screen or home feed, and you can chip away at swipes and taps that could otherwise frustrate them.
Scale compounds the impact. Samsung is still one of the world’s top smartphone sellers, boasting about 20% market share in recent IDC stats. Even a slight lift in engagement across that installed base matters. One reason these seemingly minor UI tweaks are strategic is because of the potential payoff: According to industry research from McKinsey, companies that do well with personalization derive 40% more revenue from those activities than their peers — which underscores what there is to gain by getting good at it.
Spotify recommendations in Now Brief get smarter too
YouTube isn’t the only beneficiary. Now Brief’s Spotify section will further cater to moment-led listening with time- and context-specific recommendations. Look for tiles such as “Liven up your afternoon,” “Wind down before bed,” “Get into the Friday mood,” rainy-day mixes, winter seasonal picks, and reflective end-of-year playlists.
This dovetails nicely with how people already use music apps. According to Spotify, with more than 600 million monthly listeners, time-of-day programming is an established method of increasing session starts and completion. By parking these prompts a swipe away, Now Brief can funnel you right into a playlist that mirrors your state of mind rather than leaving you to hunt around in its menus looking for it.
Privacy controls and consent options for personalized feeds
The new YouTube experience revolves around consent. The permission language, which has been updated with the new changes, makes it clear that personal data will need to be shared among partner services in order to provide personalized recommendations. That transparency matters if you are privacy-conscious — you can choose to opt out and be suggested generic content, or opt in for richer personalization.
As ever, you’ll be able to return to choices within Samsung’s Security and Privacy settings to reassess permissions and data access. You can expect the YouTube toggle to keep company with other Now Brief sources, so you may be able to tailor your experience to your liking.
Small but telling additions across sharing and contacts
Early strings also suggest smarter sharing and healthier contact recommendations. Quick Share might suggest recipients according to the faces it can detect in your photos, and Contacts could automatically recommend contacts or profile pictures from your Gallery on its own. It’s another indication that One UI 8.5 is embedding light, on-device intelligence into your daily routine.
When you can try the One UI 8.5 Now Brief improvements
One UI 8.5 beta is rumored to come pretty soon. After you’ve updated your device, look out for the new consent prompts in Now Brief and give those fresh YouTube tiles a try! If you participate, you can expect recommendations to go from hit-or-miss to really relevant — that is, what Now Brief was designed to offer.
